Estonia is turning more science advances in entrepreneurial successes, with DeepTech companies emerging and rising across sectors. According to statistics from Startup Estonia, Estonian DeepTech companies experienced a significant growth in 2023, reaching a record €227.2M in turnover, a 14% increase from the previous year.
They have also contributed €45.1M in labour taxes to the state, marking a 20% increase year-on-year. The top-performing Estonian DeepTechs in terms of turnover in 2023 were Cleveron (€30M), Defsecintel Solutions (€27.2M), Comodule (€24.6M), Milrem Robotics (€23.5M), and Starship Technologies (€20.8M).
According to Vaido Mikheim, DeepTech project lead at Startup Estonia, the importance of DeepTech is appreciated today by investors and the public alike. “Harnessing groundbreaking technology to serve the economy and society at large has never been easy, but reports are showing that as much as up to 90% of Europeans have a positive perception of the effects of technology and science,“ Mikheim says, encouraging Estonian scientists to turn to accelerators and seriously consider commercialising their work. “The situation has never been as favourable as it is today,” he added.
Funding data supports it. Estonian DeepTech companies signed 28 financing deals worth €254 million last year, with EFENCO (€12.3 million), Roofit.solar (€6.45 million), RAIKU (€5 million), Up Catalyst (€4 million), Vok Bikes (€3.8 million), ELMO (€2.6 million) and Value.Space (€2.1 million) attracting the largest investments among startups.
In contrast to early stage projects, established DeepTech companies that are over ten years old have secured larger deals as their technologies are more mature and require higher capital investments. For example, Skeleton Technologies, a company specializing in supercapacitors, raised €158 million, and Elcogen, which focuses on hydrogen technologies, raised €45 million.
The Estonian Startup Ecosystem database reported 147 deep tech companies in Estonia by the end of last year. They employed 2,792 people combined, comprising 16% of the startup sector workforce. The average gross salary in the sector last year was €3,884. The largest employers by the end of the year were Milrem Robotics (196 employees), Starship Technologies (157 employees), Cleveron (142 employees), Comodule (142 employees), and Skeleton Technologies (126 employees).
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